Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Time keeps on slippin' into the future...

This past weekend, with very little fuss or bother, we officially slipped past the one-month mark. In less than a month, An Artificial Night will be showing up on bookstore shelves, full of words and wonders for people to experience and enjoy. This is my third October Daye book, and my fourth book overall. Those numbers are very "wait, what?" to me. How did I go from no books to four? How do I make sure I get to keep doing it? How do I find time for a nap? How?

I like to think I'm more centered as an author than I was a year ago. I've had good reviews and I've had bad reviews; I've wanted to argue with some in both categories (although I didn't, because I'm not insane). I've had fan mail and I've had...not hate mail, exactly, but definitely the opposite of fan mail. I've attended conventions that were new to me, and attended familiar conventions in a new context. It's all very wonderful, and very strange, and I've learned some things from the whole experience, which is good, 'cause if I wasn't learning, my friends would probably beat me to death.

So here. Have some hard-won wisdom. Or something. I'm going to go sit under a desk and hyperventilate.

Ten Things Seanan Has Learned About Being A Published Author.

10. You know how your book is the center of your world, and it feels like you talk about it constantly, and everyone you know is sick of it? Well, you probably do talk about it constantly, and everyone you know probably is sick of it, but the rest of the world has no clue who you are, or that you just put out a book, and while they'll be very impressed, they don't necessarily care. Don't take it personally.

9. Other things not to take personally: when people answer "I wrote a book" with "Oh, really? Can you sell me a copy?" and then look surprised to hear that they can buy it from the bookstore, just chill. Yes, it's faintly upsetting, but again, they don't mean anything by it, and at least they're asking where they can get the book.

8. You are probably not going to see anyone reading your book on the train. I'm sorry.

7. Assuming you've written the sort of book that shows up in airport bookstores, the first time you see it there, you're going to cry. Just accept that and move on. Also, carry tissues when you're trying to surreptitiously check bookstore stock.

6. Somebody is going to get a copy a week early. And that somebody is going to email you three days before the actual release date, and go "When does the next one come out?" It is actually rude to fill somebody's bedroom with live fiddler crabs while they sleep, no matter how much that question makes you want to. Just learn to grin and bear it.

5. People are going to assume that you have an endless supply of free books to hand out, like candy. When you say you don't, they're going to sulk at you, and may even say you're being mean. Carry pictures of sad-looking cats or children, and inform these people that your babies need to eat. It works.

4. If you spend all your time reading reviews and answering email, you will go insane. Don't do that.

3. Assuming you're writing a series, or even if you're not, odds are good that by the time the first book comes out, you'll be neck-deep in the second, or even the third, and it's going to be really hard to switch back into thinking about the new book as "current." Just try to remember what happens when, so you don't accidentally spoiler an entire book release party.

2. It's going to be hard to find time to write, but you have to. That's what got you into the position of not being able to find time to write, remember?

1. All the reviews in the world can't change your book. Nothing can change your book. It's yours. You made it. Everything else is just opinion, and you can weather a little opinion. Promise.
Tags: an artificial night, busy busy busy, contemplation, release dates, ten things, writing
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  • 55 comments
8. You are probably not going to see anyone reading your book on the train. I'm sorry.

I would bet money that this will become untrue for you sometime during the next year or so.

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

archangelbeth

6 years ago

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

archangelbeth

6 years ago

Which reminds me... I've got to get my act together and do the altered-ARC project I've been thinking about. Can I haz a week off work plz?
Sadly, I lack this magical wish-granting power.

greektoomey

6 years ago

greektoomey

6 years ago

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

Can we send the Luidaeg instead of fiddler crabs? Pretty please? C'mon. Please? So much more doable.

And really, for the opposite of fanmail people, I'll make you a multipurpose 'Not A Fan' voodoo doll. It will be stuffed with catnip, so you won't even need pins. :D
Yes.

Yes, we can.

marziek

6 years ago


Why would you cry when you saw your book for sale at the airport bookstore? Doesn't that mean it's a popular book? That it will sell more? Are the odds of seeing someone reading your book on the plane meaningless because only trains count? What's the unpublished admiral missing here?
I think it's like crying when your baby gets married. "My book! Is out here! In the big wide world! Being sold to business travelers!"

...I don't know if I'd cry, but someone might have to drag me away before I offered to sign copies. >_>

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

admnaismith

6 years ago

As frustrating as it may be, #6 actually sounds like one of the less-bad problems to have. (Assuming here that it's the author's intent to release more books some day...as opposed to someone asking me when I'm going to have my next broken bone or something.)
It makes me literally sick to my stomach. Seriously, getting that question before release date has even hit makes me cry, and makes me want to vomit, because I am generally SO TIRED by that point that all I want is fifteen minutes to enjoy THIS book before being forced onto the next.

Imagine asking a woman who's in the middle of labor when she plans to get knocked up again.

wendyzski

6 years ago

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

tsgeisel

6 years ago

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

mythusmage

6 years ago

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

ROBBER CRABS. ROBBER CRABS.

Fiddler crabs. Pfft. Takes too long. ^^
I question your presumptions. How many robber crabs can you fit in a room? How many fiddler crabs could you fit in the same room?

Which do you think would eat a human more quickly, three sharks, or the equivalent mass of piranha?

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

Yes to all of the above!

One other observation I made while working at White Wolf:

Once your name appears in public, connected to any form of published creative work (music, illustration, writing, etc.), there are people who will either worship or excoriate you, regardless of the merits (or lack thereof) involved in said work, for no reason other than the fact that you did it and they didn't.

In the case of the worshipers, keep their praise in perspective.

In the case of the walking exfoliants, just make sure they're not right... and if they are, learn from it.

And in either case, never let it stop you. This shit just comes with the territory.
Bingo.
*hugs*

So happy for you - and all of us happy readers too ;).

A great deal of your list applies to much more in life than only being an author - so handy thing, that :).
Yay!
(Just be glad you're not George R.R. Martin...)
(Why?)

satyrblade

6 years ago

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

And in other news, FEED is the Daily Dose newsletter pick this morning for Powells.com.

(Typed via cellphone on a very slow browser somewhere near Grants Pass...)
I saw that! Totally awesome.
*reads list*

*composes email advising fiddler crab union 97365 their services will not be needed after all*

Thank you.
Sadly, I know why #9 happens. I have no experimental data regarding the potential difference in responses if you use "(BookCompany) bought/released my book" instead of "I wrote a book."
Oddly, the first sounds more arrogant to me, while the second is factual.
My preference, when purchasing the artistic works (mainly books or CDs) of friends, is to do so in person, at an event organized specifically to promote said works or artist. This way I can be assured that the greatest possible portion of the sale is actually ending up where I want it to.

But your #9 gives me pause.
With books published by traditional publishers, it's actually usually better to buy from a bookstore, because this helps the author's sell-through numbers. Buying one of my author copies may get me a sandwich faster, but it doesn't help my book earn out, and thus doesn't help me sell another one.

Also, "Can I buy it from you?" often carries connotations of "You must be self-published," which, well.
But... let's just say that Lilly and Alice rebel, revolt, and/or basically refuse to look appropriately sad for your pictorial aids. Is it then ethical to tote around (*gasp!*) pictures of mournful felines NOT your own, in order to get the whole "we be pitifulz and needz muneez for noms" point across?

Because, srsly? I'm sitting here staring down my own refusing-pointblank-to-look-anything-remotely-sad cat, and thinking it's gonna take some sort of chicanery on my part to pull that one off... ;D
Pour water on the cat. INSTANT SORROW.

Failing that, carry pictures of a surrogate cat.
I read Feed on the plane to Vegas from SeaTac. Pretty sure I saw Feed IN SeaTac, in one of the bookstores. My friends mock me mightily because I've expressed serious interest in getting the RSS logo on the cover as a tattoo.
I will squee so loud.
It -is- great fun seeing your book in a bookstore in Nottingham.

(I was one of many authors of a computer book a bunch of years ago.)

Nottingham!

Yay!
While last you visited Seattle it coincided with the release date for Jen's "The Little Finance Book That Could." I had ordered my copy via two day shipping from Amazon, and had it during the Browncoats gathering. Jen's author's copies had *not* shown up. She was understandably annoyed - not with me, but with her publisher.

I had a rush of common sense and decided that asking her to sign my copy could wait for another day.